Zx
Classification Zx (pronounced /zæ/) is an auxiliary language designed for the purposes of the global queer community, but open to all. The proper name 'Zx' can mean "free" or "freedom" when written as a common noun or adjective in the language, i.e. 'zx'. Zx is not a naturalistic language and has not tried to make the language as one realistically evolved from an earlier form of some language. Rather, it has sought ease of use through rich grammatical and semantic techniques. Phonology Consonants Vowels Phonotactics Zx allows the following syllable structures: V, CV, VC, CCV, and CCVC. For V syllables, there are four permissible diphthongs: /ai/, /ao/, /ɔi/ and /eu/. Excluding the post-alveolars, all consonants can combine with either approximant in the onset, making these blends permissible: /my/, /ny/, /py/, /by/, /ty/, /dy/, /ky/, /gy/, /fy/, /vy/, /sy/, /zy/, and /wy/ as well as /mw/, /nw/, /pw/, /bw/, /tw/, /dw/, /kw/, /gw/, /fw/, /vw/, /sw/, /zw/, and /yw/. There are therefore 26 onsets featuring approximants. No codas are allowed, but in polysyllabic mono-morphemic lexical words with a CVC.CV structure, there are restrictions as to what consonant can appear where. Namely, the coda of the first syllable must be a fricative while the onset of the second syllable must be a stop. Hence, 'bhvbo' and 'dcjgi' are acceptable words, but 'bibvo' and 'vepfi' would be nonce words. For nasals, the combinations 'mb' and 'nd' are permitted; hence words like 'wcmbo' ("cancer") and 'zondo' ("man") are permissible, but nonce words like 'wcbmo', 'zodno', and 'zongo' are not. For the onset, the following obstruent clusters are permissible: /pf/, /ps/, /pʃ/, /bv/, /bz/, /bʒ/, /tf/, /ts/, /dv/, /dz/, /kf/, /ks/, /kʃ/, /gv/, /gz/, and /gʒ/. Practically speaking, the affricates /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/, will be considered as phonemes in their own right since they can be found in coda position, acting as one consonant in CVC syllables. Thus, excluding them, there are 16 obstruent-fricative clusters in Zx. Additionally, the following nasal cluster is permissible: /mn/. Considering this, there are 43 total consonant clusters permitted in the onset of syllables in Zx. Stress Zx is a syllable-initial stress language, meaning that the first syllable of any multi-syllabic words will feature the stress. Since many words in Zx are monosyllabic, Zx will also feature a stressed-timed pattern, wherein more important words of content get stressed moreso than function words. For example, pronouns like 'i', 'e', and 'a' would be more stressed than the functional particle 'r'. Krl r mul? - "(Do you) wanna go?" Krl e mul? - "(Do) you wanna go?" The stress will be different between the two minimal pairs, with the 'e' being more stressed than the 'r'. This rule will be broken for foreign loanwords. Here are some names of foreign origin that have stress in patterns that are atypical of their source languages (Italian, English): Itaya - "Italy" Lhkago - "Chicago" Trjanto - "Toronto" Writing System Grammar Zx features an SVO word order, has dual 'to be' verbs, and is a subject-dropping language with universal subject-verb inversion question formation, as well as WH-movement. Particles are used to communicate speaker mood and intention and well as the passive voice. Though it does not feature grammatical gender or a traditional noun class system, it does feature color. If grammatical gender is mostly morpho-syntactic and traditional noun classes are morpho-syntactic/semantic, color can best be classified as an untraditional class system that crosses all word categories and though color is morpho-syntactic and semantic for verbs, it is only of semantic value for the other word categories. Zx features head directionality that is mixed, but mostly head-initial, and it is of a mixed nominative-accusative/topic-comment classification, with mostly analytic but also some synthetic morphology. It features grammatical number for nouns in the form of general and plural forms as well as verb conjugations for tense and mood, though it uses auxiliary verbs for aspect. For some constructions, the general or plural form of nouns must be specified, but typically, the use of plural will be optional when the context is clear. I nol tlospim. - I have cats. E nol bc tlospi. - You have two cats. A nol ti tlospi. - He has many cats. Color Zx features color, which is a morpho-syntactic and semantic word classification system that is based on the consonants of the language. Essentially, each consonant in Zx is aligned with a color of the rainbow, or black or white. As such, all twenty-six letters of the Zx alphabet create a pangram which demonstrates this. PIBFHVTQDNXMSAZLCJKUGYEWRO This pangram literally reads: REDORANGEYELLOWGREENBLUEINDIGOVIOLETWHITEBLACKCOLOR pib - /pib/ - red fhv - /fɪv/ - orange tqd - /tɛd/ - yellow nxm - /næm/ - green saz - /sɑz/ - blue lcj - /ʃɔʒ/ - indigo kug - /kug/ - violet ye - /ye/ - white wr - /wʌ/ - black o - /o/ - color The consonants /p/ and /b/ are red consonants as they are in the word meaning red. Similarly, /f/ and /v/ are orange consonants, /l/ and /j/ indigo, /y/ white, /w/ black, and so on. Physical objects in the world that typically occur as a particular color will then begin with a corresponding color letter. For example: bhvbo - /bɪvbo/ - apple fwose - /fwose/ - tiger dzofu - /dzofu/ - cheese nai - /nai/ - tree zasko - /zɑsko/ - sky livgu - /ʃivgu/ - bruise gc - /gɔ/ - grape yh - /yɪ/ - tooth wi - /wi/ - night Many words will have a more arbitrary connection to color, but for adjectives and words denoting certain qualities, color will overlap with these general symbolic categories: Red - Beauty / Danger : Pe / Pc Orange - Energy / Oddity : Vyi / Vx Yellow - Kindness / Weakness : Du / Ta Green - Life / Disgust : Myci / Mnq Blue - Peace / Boredom : Si / Zwx Indigo - Transcendence / Pain : Lc / Jao Violet - Pleasure / Indulgence : Kya / Gju White - Purity / Emptiness : Yao / Yai Black - Wealth / Depression : Wyx / Wci Syntax Zx has an SVO word order and features WH-movement and subject-verb inversion for all standard questions, hence a VSO word order as well. Na ya af? - "Who is that?" Nol e bhvbo? - "Do you have an apple?" Ne yeg em? - "When did you guys dance?" Pqk e vefpi? - "Did you eat the orange?" Cd tij e af zom? - "Why do you like those people?" Wano em dai? - "Can you guys be fish?" Yano a px? - "Can she be angry?" Since Zx is a subject-dropping language, the word order will often be VO in statements, and also VO in questions. With questions, subjects will more often be included, but when the context is clear, they can certainly be dropped. Na ya? - "Who is (that)?" Nol bhvbo? - "Do (you) have an apple?" Ne yeg? - "When did (you guys) dance?" Pqk vefpi? - "Did (you) eat the orange?" Wano dai? - "Can (you guys) be fish?" Yano px? - "Can (she) be angry?" Because Zx is a topic-comment language, topics will often precede the subject, creating both TSV and TVO constructions, whereby T is the topic and SV or VO is the comment. Depending on the meaning, the topic can compensate for the role of the subject or the object, and whichever it represents gets excluded elsewhere. Furthermore, as well as the subject, the object can also be dropped (particularly with the "it" pronoun), and this creates strict TV constructions. Tlospi sai, i be tij. - "The cat, I don't like." Tlospi sai, be tij. - "The cat, (I) don't like." I sai, yxlo Zx. - "As for me, I can speak Zx." I sai, yxlo. - "As for me, I can speak (it)." Morpho-syntactic Alignment Zx is both a nominative-accusative language and a topic-comment language. The nominative-accusative is the default for most basic sentences, and thus exhibits an SVO word order. The topic particle 'sai' marks a topic which is then followed by a comment about the said topic. The topic particle will be used to introduce a new topic, compare different topics, return to a prior topic, or for discursive purposes such as different transition types. A ya bcyuyo. I sai ya vryuda. - "She is twenty-one. As for me, I'm thirty-four." Pso sai byc on mu? - “(Turning back to) the lobster, wasn’t it delicious?” Be krl r mul rk. Ga sai, be nol um. - “I don't wanna go there. Besides, I don't have money." Standard Verbs Standard verbs in Zx are generally of the CVC structure The phono-semantic value of color is relevant for verbs. Verbs can be either warm or cool and will generally come in pairs. Warm verbs end in /f/ or /v/ and cool verbs end in /ʃ/ or /ʒ/. Two verbs that differ in only their warmth or coolness differ in the heat or intensity of their meanings. nol - /noʃ/ - to have nof - /nof/ - to own yej - /yeʒ/ - to dance yev - /yev/ - to shake With these pairs, "to own" has a more intense meaning than its cool partner verb "to have", just as "to shake" does over "to dance". Tense Standard verbs conjugate according to the tense via lenition and fortition. There are three tenses: present, past, and future. To form the past tense, the place of articulation of the coda changes, moving further back in the mouth for both the warm and cool verbs. Similarly, to form the future tense, the coda moves further in front of the mouth for both types. Except for the future tense of cool verbs which remains a fricative, the manner of articulation changes from a fricative to stop. nol - /noʃ/ - have nok - /nok/ - had nos - /nos/ - will have yej - /yeʒ/ - am/is/are dancing yeg - /yeg/ - danced yez - /yez/ - will dance nof - /nof/ - own not - /not/ - owned nop - /nop/ - will own yev - /yev/ - am/is/are shaking yed - /yed/ - shook yeb - /yeb/ - will shake. E nok bhvbo. - "You had an apple." A yej. - "She is dancing." Am nop tem. - "They will own a home." The Stative, Descriptive, and Impersonal Verbs Three verbs in Zx are non-standard and they include the stative, descriptive and impersonal verbs. These verbs conjugate differently from standard verbs. The stative and descriptive verbs are both equivalent to "is", but one is a copula used to connect with noun phrases (the stative verb) and the other is a non-copula used to connect with all other types of phrases (the descriptive verb). Stative Verb wa - /wɑ/ - am/is/are wc - /wɔ/ - was/were we - /we/ - will be I wa tulc. - I am a teacher. E wc wivc. - You were a singer. A we mufc. - He/She will be a traveler. Descriptive Verb ya - /yɑ/ - am/is/are yc - /yɔ/ - was/were ye - /ye/ - will be I ya vi. - "I am happy." E yc bo. - "You were hot." A ye rk. - "He/She will be here." Impersonal Verb The impersonal verb is equivalent to "There is..." in and tells what exists. It has three verb forms, including the indicative, interrogative, and negative, and they all conjugate. Indicative tya - /tyɑ/ - there is tyc - /tyɔ/ - there was tye - /tye/ - there will be Tya nai. - "There is a tree." Interrogative sya - /syɑ/ - is there? syc - /syɔ/ - was there? sye - /sye/ - will there be? Syc bhvbo? - "Was there an apple?" Negative mya - /myɑ/ - there isn't myc - /myɔ/ - there wasn't mye - /mye/ - there won't be Mye dzofu. - "There won't be cheese." Negative Adverb The negative adverb 'be' means "not". With the stative and descriptive verb, it can contract to form one single word. It cannot contract with standard verbs, however. I be nol fwose. - "I don't have a tiger." I be ya va. - "I am not warm." I bya va. - "I'm not warm." I be wa tulc. - "I am not a teacher." I bwa tulc. - "I'm not a teacher." Aspect Zx features three grammatical aspects: indicative (default), habitual, and perfect. The habitual aspect will be formed by using the stative verb in combination with a verb, whereas the perfect aspect will be formed using the descriptive verb in combination. The infinitive forms of these verbs take an -n suffix and appear as 'yan' and 'wan'. Habitual I wa yej. - "I (regularly) dance." I wc yej. - "I used to dance." I we yej - "I will (regularly) dance." I wa yan vi. - "I am (consistently) happy."" I wc yan se. - "I used to be sad." I we yan px. - "I'll be (consistently) angry." I wa wan tulc. - "I am (consistently) a teacher." I wc wan grjc. - "I used to be a student." I we wan mrjc. - "I will (consistently) be a player." Perfect I ya yeg. - "I have danced." I yc yeg. - "I had danced." I ye yeg - "I will have danced." I ya yan px. - "I have been angry." Yc yan dovbr. - "It had been sunny." I ye yan dayubc- "I will have been forty-two." I ya wan mye. - "I have been a parent." I yc wan ve. - "I had been a child." Vesto dai vendo ye wan bjxf - "The girl and boy will have been friends." Continuous Aspect In the present tense, the continuous aspect is the default interpretation for verbs of action in the indicative mood. For verbs of state, continuous aspect does not apply, so there wouldn't be a way to distinguish "I like it" from "I am liking it", as both would be the standard indicative form. For verbs of action, however, "I dance" would require the habitual aspect (i.e. I wa yej) whereas "I am dancing" would be the indicative 'I yej'. For the past and future tenses, the continuous aspect can be communicated with the continuous aspect particle 'cge' which translates to "in the process/middle of (doing)". Mc i pql. - "I am eating now." Nx gal e mc? - "What are you doing now?" I yot cge TV. - "I was (in the middle of) watching TV." A pqs cge nen i txz - "He will be (in the middle of) eating when I arrive." Mood In addition to the indicative, Zx conjugates standard verbs according to six moods: the imperative, suggestive, possible, conditional, potential, and permissive. pql - /pɛʃ/ - eat I pql. - "I am eating." (indicative) I pqlu. - "I must eat." (imperative) I pqleu. - "I should eat." (suggestive) I pqlai. - "I might eat." (possible) I pqlci. - "I would eat." (conditional) I pqlo. - "I can able to eat." (potential) I pqlao - "I can allowed to eat." (permissive) The passive mood is made by using the paricle 'sc' before the standard verb. Bhvbo sc pql. - "The apple is eaten." Bhvbo sc pqk. - "The apple was eaten." Bhvbo sc pqs. - "The apple will be eaten." The commandative is another mood, but it does not conjugate with standard verbs. This mood is equivalent to the imperative in English or Spanish, and is used to utter commands. For the stative and descriptive verbs, the infinitive form of the verbs are used in the commandative, i.e. 'yan' and 'wan'. A commandative form of the adverb "not" also exists, 'ben' and it requires the infinitval particle when combined with a verb. Mul! - "Go!" Pql x! - "Eat it" Ben r mul! - "Don't go!" Ben r wan wivc. - "Don't be a singer." Wan ik bjxf. - "Be my friend." Ben r yan se. - "Don't be sad." Yan vi. - "Be happy" Note that you can contract 'ben' much like 'be', and in that case the infinitival particle is lost. Bwan wivc. - "Don't be a singer." Byan se. - "Don't be sad." To communicate something like "To not be a teacher", you would not use the commandative adverb, but the infinitival prefix would be required at the front of the phrase. R be wan wivc ya fo. - "To not be a singer is good." R wan tle be wan? - "To be or not to be? R be pql ya pc. - "To not eat is dangerous." The contractions of 'ben' and the verb, plus 'be' and the verb, however, are identical. Bwan ak bjxf! - "Don't be his friend!" R bwan ve ya kc. - "To not be a child is amazing!" Nouns Common nouns in Zx will usually end in a vowel, but can potentially take any form. Many monosyllabic nouns also share the same form with semantically matching adjectives, which are also required to end in a vowel. Nouns have a general form and plural form. The plural form is not required and thus the general form can be used to refer to plural items. The plural is formed by adding /m/ to nouns ending in a vowel. In the event that you want to pluralize a proper noun that does not end in the required vowel, the suffix /ʌm/ can be added instead. nai - /nɑi/ - tree naim - /nɑim/ - trees bhvbo - /bɪvb/ - apple bhvbom - /bɪvbʌm/ - apples Nu Yck - /nu y__k/ - New York Nu Yckrm - /nu y__k__m/ - New Yorks I yol naim. - "I see trees." Tij e bhvbo? - "Do you like apples?" Tij e bhvbom? - "Do you like the apples?" The general form should be used when asking general questions of whether you like some category of things. In using the plural in such cases, you would be referring to a specific definite thing in the world. Adjectives Adjectives in Zx are required to end a vowel. Basic adjectives will generally feature a CV syllable structure. Many adjectives in Zx share the same form with semantically matching nouns. The stative and descriptive verbs are important in forming the correct grammar and meaning. zx - /zæ/ - free / freedom vi - /vi/ - happy / happiness pu - /pu/ - big / size ko - /ko/ - old / age Im ya zx. - "We are free." Im nol zx. - "We have freedom." I ya on ko. - "I am very old." Nx wa ek ko? - "What is your age?" For polysyllabic nouns, the final syllable can reduce to 'r' in order to become an adjectival form. dovbo - sun dovbr - sunny ido - language idr - linguistic; lingual bhvbo - apple bhvbr - of apple; apple-y ol - water olr - of water; watery yosko - snow yoskr - snowy yasas - winter yasasr - wintry To make the "too + (adj)" construction, Zx will employ duplication and reverse voicing. Ya pubu. - "(It's) too big." A ya kogo. - "He is too old." Ya a psibi? - "Is she too tall?" Note that only the first sound of the cluster is used in the further processes. Green, white and black adjectives duplicate the other form from their category (nasal or glide). Munu - "(It's) too delicious." Ncmc. - "(It's) too expensive." Yaowao. - "(It's) too pure." Wyxyx. - "(He's) too wealthy." To communicate the comparative quality of an adjective, you must using a prefix. ki~ - (the) -est zq~ - faster pr~ - fast enough / as fast as dx ~ - less fast su - the least fast kivo - the fastest zqvo - faster prvo - fast enough / as fast as dxvo - less fast suvo - the least fast Adverbs Adverbs in Zx are typically made by adjoining the suffix /n/ to adjectives. zxn - /zæn/ - freely vin - /vin/ - happily I wa yej zxn dji vin. - "I dance freely and happily." Conjunctions Because many nouns and adjectives share the same lexical form, it is imperative that Zx have two variations of conjunctions. Zx has two words for "and" and two words for "or". One of each connects noun phrases whereas the other of each connects all other phrase types. dai - /dɑi/ - "and" (noun phrases) dji - /d͡ʒi/ - "and" (non-noun phrases) zao - /zɑo/ - "or" (noun phrases) tle - /t͡ʃe/ - "or" (non-noun phrases) Wa bhvbo dai dzofu. - "It's an apple and cheese." Ya pu dji ko. - "He/She's big and old." Wa bhvbo zao dzofu. - "It's an apple or cheese." Ya pu tle ko. - "He/She's big or old." Particles Particles will generally be used to mark a topic or to communicate speaker mood or intention. sai - /sɑi/ - (topic particle) sc - /s__/ - (passive particle) dr - /dr/ - (insistence particle) ku - /ku/ - (emphatic particle) dis - /dis/ - (politeness particle) ku - /ku/ - (emphatic particle) ki - /ki/ - (confirmation particle zu - /zu/ - (indication particle) po - /po/ - (supposition particle) la - /ʃa/ - (wonderment particle) For more information on the topic particle, see the morpho-syntactic alignment section. The topic particle which will generally lead sentences. The passive particle will generally precede the verb. The insistence particle will generally follow the verb. The emphatic and politeness particles can appear behind any phrase meant for its purposes. The other particles (confirmation, indication, supposition, wonderment) will occur at the end of the sentence only. The confirmation particle is used in request for the listener to confirm or not. It can often be used to show one's own insistence in the truth of the statement, typically in a friendly way. The confirmation particle is unique in how the listener can use it back as a response of confirmation. E ai a be mulao ki. - You and he can't go, right?" Af tlosp ya on gyi ki. - "That cat is very cute, yeah?" Ya ki. - "Yeah, it is (I agree)." The indication particle tells the listener that what you are saying is either new information that is being passed along for the first time, or it's a stubborn rebuke to a statement with which you disagree. A mus dcbedj zu. - "He is going in the summer, ya know." I be pqk ek mcin zu! - "I didn't eat your food; I'm telling you!" The wonderment particle is used to communicate the speaker's self-doubt or curiosity about the subject at hand, as well as wonder, awe, confusion or curios. It can often be used in conjunction with or in place of the words "maybe" or "perhaps", though the particles strictly describe the feelings of the speaker as opposed to the lexical words which can describe the facts of the matter. Ye lo po. - It will be cold, I guess. Ya vi po. - I'm happy, I suppose. The wonderment particle communicates speaker wonder, awe, confusion or curiosity. Rp galo a la? - "How will he do it, I wonder?" I be yxv la. - "I don't know. (I really have no idea; I wonder how.)" Ni txg im rt la? - "Where do we come from? I wonder..." The insistence particle is forceful and is generally used in the construction "let's (do something)". It moves with the subject in subject-verb inversion, much like the passive particle. Pql dr! - "Let's eat!" Mul dr! - "Let's go!" Wiv dr im? - "Shall we dance?" Wiv dr. - "Yes, we shall." The politeness particle communicates courtesy and respect and can be used to formalize expressions. It will actualy be a lexicalized suffix in common expressions like "Hello" and "Goodbye" but will generally be an independent particle at the end of a sentence. Djo. - "Hello." Djodis. - "Hello." (polite/formal) Tlu. - "Goodbye." Tludis - "Goodbye." (polite/formal) Yc fo r yol e dis. - "It was good to see you." (polite) The Particle 'R' The particle 'r' has two main functions in Zx. Firstly, it can be used as an infinitive particle, that when placed before a standard verb clarifies that it is in the infinitive. Secondly, it is used to mean "that" in a sentence such as, "I think that..." or "I dreamed that..." but it would NOT function as "that" in the aforementioned relative clauses like "the boy that I saw" or "the drink that's on the table". Ultimately, the particle 'r' is a boundary shift. I zij r zo yano fo, yano ba. - "I think that people can be good; they can be bad." I krl r mul Itaya dai Nippon. - "I want to go to Italy and Japan." When asking questions with subject-verb inversion, the infinitive particle will not be expressed, as the subjects (whether noun or pronoun) will fill the space. Krl e mul Itaya? - "Do you want to go to Italy?" Tij am pql gcm? - "Do they like to eat grapes?" Tij. Am tij r pql gcm tin. - "Yes, they do. They like to eat grapes a lot." Wif tulcm kcfi? - "Do the teachers hate coffee?" Be wif. Am baj r sxj kcfi. - "No, they don't. They love to drink coffee." The Particle 'Ke' The particle 'ke' has multiple functions in Zx. It is most commonly used to show possession, much like English's "'s", but in Zx it is used for all possessives, whether personal or inanimate. Sxyi ke bhvbo ya pib. - Sally's apple is red." Djan ke mim ya pu. - "John's eyes are big." Dzu ke vwetl ya ko. - "The wood of the chair is old." Ke also acts as a nominalizer. In instances of nominalizing an adjective, the noun means something like English's "the red one" or "the small ones". Saz-ke ya pe. - "The blue ones are beautiful." I be krl pc-ke. - "I don't want the dangerous one." In instances of nominalizing a verb, the gerund is formed such as "swimming" or "drinking". Sxj-ke ol ya mu. - "Drinking water is healthy." I be tij yej-ke. - "I don't like dancing." Possessive Adjectives & Possessive Pronouns Possessive Adjectives feature the basic pronouns lexicalized with the particle 'ke', which then contract with the singular forms. ik - /ik/ - my ek - /ek/ - your ak - /ak/ - his/her imke - /imke/ - our emke - /emke/ - your (plural) amke - /amke/ - their Possessive pronouns are also lexicalized with the 'ke' particle, but no contraction takes place. Thus, the plural forms are identical to the adjective forms. ike - /ike/ - mine eke - /eke/ - yours ake - /ake/ - his/hers imke - /imke/ - ours emke - /emke/ - yours (plural) amke - /amke/ - theirs Self-reflexivity Self-reflection is marked by a special form of the general pronouns. iki - /iki/ - myself eke - /eke/ - yourself aka - /aka/ - himself; herself xkx - /__k__/ - itself ikim - /ikim/ - ourselves ekem - /ekem/ - yourselves akam - /akam/ - themselves xkxm - /__k__m/ - themselves I yol iki. - "I see myself." E prk eke. - "You cut yourself." Ywazgu pqk aka. - "The dog ate himself." Yolo bzev xkx? - "Can the heart see itself?" Im fcg ikim - "They heard themselves." Em baiv ekem. - "They are tasting themselves." Zambi pqf akam. - "The zombies are consuming themselves." Yxv xm xkxm? - "Do they (inanimate) know themselves?" Another more elegant way to show reflexivity is the drop the subject and put the reflexive case form of the pronoun in subject position. Compare the sentences with the same meanings. A yok aka. - "She saw herself." Aka yok. - "She saw herself." Here are more examples: Iki bav. - "I love mysel (deeply)." Aka krl. - "She wants herself." Eke wif. - "You hate yourselves." To communicate something like "my own", you would use this same base form, combined with possessive 'ke' particle as one lexicalized unit. ikike - /iki/ - my own ekeke - /eke/ - your own akake - /aka/ - his own; her own xkxke - /__k__/ - its own ikimke - /ikim/ - our own ekemke - /ekem/ - your own (pl.) akamke - /akam/ - their own (anim.) xkxmke - /__k__m/ - their own (inanim.) In writing, when expressed as a noun, a hyphen will be used. Nol ikike thspi. - "I have my own pencil." Nol iki-ke. -"I have my own." Nol akamke dzum. - "They have their own chairs." Nol akam-ke - "They have their own." Question Words Nx? - "What?" Nx wa of? - "What is that?" Nx wa? - "What is (that)? / What is (it)?" Nx wa ek ksu dis? - "What is your name?" (polite) Nx wa ek ksu? - "What is your name?" (standard) Nx ek ksu? - "What is your name?" (casual) Ni? - "Where?" Ni ya of? - "Where is that?" Ni ya? - "Where is (it)? / Where is (that)?" Ni ya tlosp? - "Where is the cat?" (polite) Ni tlosp? - "Where (is the) cat?" (casual) Ni ike dai eke? - "Where (are) mine and yours?" Ni mut am? - "Where did they travel?" Ni yok e dai a pu fwoso? - "Where did you and he see the big tiger?" Ne? - "When?" Ne ya of? - "When is that?" Ne ya? - "When is (it)? / When is (that)?" Ne mup Lhkago? - "When will (you) travel to Chicago?" Ne ya Vrnoj? - "When is March?" (polite) Ne Vrnoj? - "When is March?" (casual) Na? - "Who?" Na wa of? - "Who's (that)? / Who is (it)?" Na wa? - "Who's (that)? / Who is it?" Na wa ek tifo bjxf? - "Who is your best friend?" (standard) Na ek tifo bjxf? - "Who is your best friend?" (casual) Na tij e? - "Who do you like?" No? - "Which?" No wa of? - "Which is that?" No wa? - "Which is (it)? / Which is (that)?" No krl e? - "Which do you want?" No o tij a? - "Which color does she like?" No zo yok e pql cge? - "Which person did you see the middle of eating?" Wyu? - "How many? How much?" Wyu sya? - "How many are there?" Wyu bhvbo nol e? - "How many apples do you have?" Wyu muk zujrkr? - "How many went to university?" Wyu zo muk Nu Yck? - "How many people went to New York?" Ywi? - "What kind?" Ywit wa af? - "What kind is that?" Ywi wa? - "What kind is (it)? What kind is (that)?" Ywi wa af nai? - "What kind is that tree?" Ywi nai wa? - "What kind of tree is (it/that)?" Ywi mcin tij e? - "What kind of food do you like?" Rp - "How?" Rp ya e dis? - "How are you?" (formal) Rp ya e? - "How are you?" (standard/polite) Rp ya? - "How are you?" (standard/informal) Rp e? - "How are you?" (causal) Rp e dis? - "How are you?" (formal + casual; can be used comically) Rp krl e gal? - "How do you want to do it?"" Rp wqg a? - "How did he die?" Cd - "Why?" Cd krl e mul zujrkr? - "Why do you want to go to university?" Cd wa e yej? - "Why do you dance?" Cd yej e? - "Why are you dancing?" Cd ya zasko saz? - "Why is the sky blue?" Cd ya r e bwa txj tem? - "Why is it that you do not come home?" Note that for the perfect and habitual tenses, the descriptive and stative verbs, respectfully, cannot be omitted as they are auxiliary verbs and not the main verbs. Ino - "What time?" Ino ya? - "What time is it?" Ino mus grjrkr? - "What time will you go to school?" Ino yok e am? - "What time did you see them?" E sai ino ya fo? - "What time is good for you?" Relative Adverbs Relative adverbs are formed by adding an /n/ suffix to the matching question words. nxn - "that/which" nin - "where" nen - "when" nan - "who" Mij i fso nxn e frg. - "Give me the peace that you bought." I be yxv nin am muk. - "I don't know where they went." Gul e nen im mrt westevai? - "Do you remember when we played bakestball?" I baj af zondo nan mig i af ozim. - "I love that man who gave me those books." Indefinite Prounouns and Quantifiers The indefinite pronouns refer to non-specific things, people, places or times. nxzbi - "everything" nxfku - "something" nxlte - "anything" nwx - "nothing" nazbi - "everyone" nafku - "someone" nalte - "anyone" nwa - "no one" nezbi - "always" nefku - "sometime" nelte - "anytime" nwe - "never" nizbi - "everywhere" nifku - "somewhere" nilte - "anywhere" nwi - "nowhere" Here are some more quantifiers that function as adjectives. For the nominals, is - "all" yo is - "every/each" 'one all' ti - "many/much" tla - "some" gyo - "a few/a little" bu - "no" I krf is dzu. - "I need all the chairs." I krf is. - "I need all (of them)." I tij yo is tlospi. - "I like each cat." I tij yo is. - "I like each one." A krl tla me. - "He wants some plants." A krl tlan. - "He wants some." Am nol bu um. - "They have no money." Am nol bun. - "They have none." Nol e gyo dje? - "Do you have a few minutes?" I mrj gyon. - "I played a little." Am yok ti fu. - "They saw many animals." Am yok tin. - "They saw many." Lexicon There are currently over 1,000 words in Zx with a plan to create over 5,000. Loanwords Zx will take many loanwords for words with a near-universal adoptation (e.g. TV; sushi; sauna; gay; tofu, tsunami, kangaroo; internet; email; phone; croissant; pizza) and these words might follow and irregular stress pattern based on the source language. Place names will be representations of the original names in the native or dominant languages of the places referred; hence 'Nippon' is "Japan", 'Djongc' is "China" and 'Meiko' is "Mexico". Typically, when encountering the following foreign sounds, here is how they assimilate in Zx. /r/ (syllable initial) -> /j/ Paji wa pe wcsti. - "Paris is a beautiful city." Rmqjhkr wa pu uno. "America is a big place." Xji Patr wa ik kisc bag ozi. "Harry Potter is my favorite book." Xji Patr ya ik kisc bag. "Harry Potter is my favorite." /l/ - (syllable initial) -> /y/ Ayowin ya bje. - "Halloween is scary." Mul dr ck Ycs Xndjryhs. - "Let's go to Los Angeles." Drbyhn ya je wcsti. - "Dublin is a small city." For syllable final /r/ and /l/, the sounds are completely dropped. Nu Yck nol ti wcsko. - "New York has many streets." Scu bya qp Nippon. - "Seoul isn't in Japan." /h/ -> null Otq sc ksuj Pib Zasko Otq. - "The hotel is named Red Sky Hotel." I wc Xji Patr ub Ayowin. - "I was Harry Potter on Halloween." th -> t/d (depending on voicing of th) Tij e Tenzghvhn? - "Do you like Thanksgiving?" Hnyido yifko wa 'Tenkyu'. - "The English word is 'Thank you'." Influences Since Zx is not a naturalistic language, some aspects of the grammar are unique, though many other aspects of Zx have been inspired by other languages. Most inspiration has come from language with which I am most familiar, namely English, Irish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, and German, among others. Example text Tyc zondo nan mog qp so wcsko qp wcsti. A be nok nxlte mo byc se. Ak bjxf txg ak tem dji dig a mrj klcvai an a. Zondo yc ko dji ya mrg nwe. Yc pwe sc bje. Ga sai, a zig r do yc leje. A dht ba dji be muk. Jog tem an ak pu tlospi ai je ywazgu. Wc feu zo mo tig ak myci. A sai, wc zx. /tyɔ zon.do nɑn mog ɛp so wɔs.ko ɛp wɔs.ti. ɑ be nok næʃ.te mo byɔ se. ɑk bʒæf tæg ɑk tem d͡ʒi dig ɑ mʌʒ kʃɔ.vɑi ɑn ɑ. zon.do yɔ ko d͡ʒi yɑ mʌg nwe. yɔ pwe sɔ bʒe. gɑ sɑi ɑ zig ʌ do yɔ ʃeʒe. ɑ dɪt bɑ d͡ʒi be muk. ʒog tem ɑn ɑk pu t͡ʃos.pi ɑi ʒe ywɑz.gu. wɔ feu zo mo tig ɑk myɔi. ɑ sɑi wɔ zæ./ "There was a man who lived on a quiet street in the city. He didn't have anything, but he wasn't sad. His friend came to his home and asked him to play soccer with him. The man was old and had never played. He was somewhat scared. Besides, he thought that the day was too cold. He said no and didn't go. He stayed home with his big cat and small dog. He was a cowardly man, but he liked his life. For him, it was freedom."